In view of the global climate strikes due to take place on 15th March 2019, the Club of Rome and its members from 30 different countries are hereby issuing a statement in support of the student protesters.

 

“Students across the world have recognized the existential threat climate change poses to humanity and our planet. They are holding leaders accountable and we believe their views are utterly justified and irrefutable. That is why we accept our responsibility in promoting climate action and call on governments to do the same and adopt emergency plans with concrete targets and timetables. Emergency action is more necessary than ever and cannot be put off any longer as we no longer have the luxury of time. We have the capabilities: we must now find the will and listen to the brave young leaders who have taken to the streets to be heard. It is time for less talk and more collaborative action on climate from governments, business leaders and citizens!”.

 

“Climate change is a real and present danger to the sustainability of mother earth. The continent of Africa is the most vulnerable and least resourced part of our globe to adequately deal with the consequences of climate change. This is why a number of protests being organized in countries across the continent, from Egypt to South Africa, as part of the global climate strike on 15th March, is an encouraging and very timely sign of growing civil activism in Africa on the need for urgent action on climate change“.

 

In 1968, a network of entrepreneurs, diplomats, scientists and economists was created in Rome on the initiative of the Italian industrialist Aurelio Peccei and Alexander King, then Science Director of the OECD. The group was united in their concern about the future of humanity and the planet and assumed responsibility to make politicians and decision-makers worldwide aware of the most crucial issues of the future. The Club of Rome was born.

In the first report on the predicament of humanity, “The Limits to Growth”, the Club warned of unlimited material growth and uninhibited consumption in a world of limited resources: if human activity was to continue in the same way as between 1900 and 1972, humanity would be about to overshoot the carrying capacity of planet earth by the end of the century.

50 years later, there is no doubt that the ecological footprint of humanity substantially exceeds its natural limits every year. The concerns of the Club of Rome have not lost their relevance: 50 years ago, the Club of Rome stated that it was both possible and necessary to alter growth trends and establish new conditions for a just and sustainable world offering stability and global balance.